Somalia makes international headline every quite so often that it’s easy to overlook its news in a list of news feeds. That is because, most of the news that makes headlines from this country at the Horn of Africa has to do with terrorism-related murders and the Islamist extremists group Al-Shabaab.

However, BBC Somali Service picked up a, rather refreshing news from Somalia, about a 13-year old Guled Adan Abdi. Young Abdi is not your typical 13-year-old boy whom you’d expect to find running around playing with toys his parents has bought him. Instead, young Abdi makes his own toys out of old plastic containers and has even fitted them with motors to make them move.

One might argue this is a classic case of necessity becoming the mother of invention. Abdi’s father went missing in 2002 and is presumed dead. He has only his mother to fend for him, but his mother makes a living from selling anjeera (Somali pancakes). The money she brings home is not enough to sustain the family let alone buying little Abdi toys.